Schwatka was about the only arctic traveler of the recent past who appeared to have fully appreciated and to have known how to use fur clothing properly, and he was perhaps the only one who was an outspoken and unequivocal advocate of its value.
British explorers seem to have been specially averse to the use of furs in arctic work, their aversion to this style of clothing being as pronounced as their antipathy to the Eskimo dog for traction power. This may perhaps be due to failure to understand the use of these two essential factors in the successful explorer’s work.
Stefansson is one of the most practical of present-day polar explorers, and in an interesting article on “Misconceptions about Life in the Arctic” (“Bulletin American Geographical Society,” January, 1913) he has the following to say about clothing:
That fur clothing is not suited for Arctic wear is a thesis of some explorers of high standing. Like many other such beliefs it has its reasons, but to the mind of the present writer there seems to be a flaw in the reasoning. The conclusion of these eminent writers should have been specific rather than general; they should have concluded that such fur clothing as their particular expedition was provided with was unsatisfactory for the particular use to which they put it; they did not have the logical right to condemn fur clothing in general because such as they had, when used as they used it, did not give satisfaction.
Most of the fur clothing to which its wearers have objected is made in temperate lands (such as Norway) by people who are unfamiliar with the conditions to be met by the garments they are making; secondly, there is an art of taking care of fur clothing—that a fur coat rots to pieces on a man’s back in a week is really a criticism of the man, not the coat, though the coat usually gets the blame. The whole art is in keeping the garment dry or drying it when it becomes wet. Explorers of standing have said in print that this cannot be done, a conclusion with which I do not believe any man will agree who has been a member of Peary’s expeditions, Amundsen’s North-West Passage Expedition or Leffingwell and Mikkelsen’s Arctic Expedition, or in fact of any expedition whose members have thought it worth their while to see how the Eskimos take care of their fur clothing.
The writer has had personal experience with “approved fur clothing for Arctic use” made (in Norway, or Lapland, I believe) for Scott’s first Antarctic Expedition and the Leffingwell-Mikkelsen Arctic Expedition. I have been told the deerskin clothing of both these expeditions was made under the same auspices; at any rate, it was substantially similar in character. It is easy to understand how an explorer whose experience was confined to such fur clothing should conclude it unsuited to Arctic use—or, indeed, to any use whatever except that of exhibition as curiosities. A description of a typical garment—a coat given me by Captain Mikkelsen—will suffice.
The coat was made of deerskin whose thickness and length of fur leads me to think it was taken from an old male deer during, say, the month of November. The skin was so thick that the coat would almost stand alone on the floor; it was so stiff that when one had it on it took considerable muscular effort to bend the arm to a right angle at the elbow; when one allowed the arms to hang naturally they stuck out from the body approximately at an angle of 35 or 40 degrees. The coat was open in front, from the neck down, some ten or twelve inches and even when buttoned up allowed the wind to blow in; when the garment had once been put on I could not get it off without help, although it was several “sizes” too large for me. On a spring balance (which may indeed not have been accurate), the coat weighed over ten pounds, or about as much as a complete double suit of inner and outer garments of well-made Eskimo fur clothing suitable for any winter weather.
POLAR CLOTHING
Compare the fitness and evident comfort, freedom and convenience of the fur costumes in this picture with the nondescript rigs of artificial fabric used by many north and south polar parties